Sterling to set up multispeciality hospital at GIFT City

Plans to build two onclology centers at Ahmedabad, Vadodara under Sterling brand

After buying back Sterling Hospitals from private equity (PE) fund Actis last year, Gujarat based entrepreneur Girish Patel is now focussing on revamping as well as expanding the chain. A 200-bed multispeciality hospital is planned at the Gujarat International Finance Tec-city (GIFT) in Ahmedabad.

The man behind iconic brands like Moov, Livon, D'Cold, and now turned investor, Patel is planning to invest close to Rs 200-225 crore to expand Sterling Hospitals.

As a part of the plan, two oncology centers are planned, one at Ahmedabad another in Vadodara. These would multi-super-speciality hospitals with 17-20 beds each. As for the Vadodara project, the firm already has the land in possession. What's more a 200-bed multi-speciality hospital is planned at the GIFT City in Ahmedabad that will also house a wellness center and nursing center. 

Patel says the hospitals are planned in an asset-light model. While Sterling would develop the hospital at GIFT city, the expansions elsewhere could be in a lease-operate & manage mode, where the land and building could be developed by a partner. He also plans to expand the Sterling brand into neighbouring states of Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh, where it could take over some brownfield facility and Sterling would operate and manage it besides branding it. 

Patel, who was the founder and ex-promoter of Paras Pharmaceuticals, had turned an investor after he sold his stake in Paras back in 2010. He had made around Rs 1,000 crore by selling the 30 per cent stake he had in Paras Pharma, while Actis PE had made around Rs 2,100 crore by selling its 63 per cent stake. Soon after the Paras deal, Actis started looking for a buyer for Sterling Hospitals where it held an 80 per cent stake. 

Bangalore-based Temasek and Premji Invest backed HealthCare Global and Olympus Capital backed DM Healthcare were in fray to buy Sterling. Others like Khazanah-backed Parkway Holdings and India Value Fund Advisors were interested in acquiring Actis' stake in Sterling. However, the deals did not go through. 

Sterling's turnover last year was around Rs 275 crore, and while the deal size was not officially disclosed, it is estimated that Patel bought back Actis' stake inSterling for around Rs 400 crore. The hospital chain has over 1,000 beds in its hospitals across seven locations, Ahmedabad, Vadodara, Rajkot, Bhavnagar and Mehsana besides smaller units at Mundra special economic zone and Adipur at Kutch

This apart, Patel is also seriously dabbling in real estate, with plans of building an integrated township project over 170 acres at Sanand with a partner, at a stone's throw distance from the Tata Motors and Ford India plants.

Intital work on the Rs 2500 crore project is likely to begin in 2015.